Guantanamo Food
Last night, I saw a press conference by Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) denying any mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. As evidence, he presented “typical” meals served to the prisoners there, one a crusted fried chicken dinner, another a lemon fish dinner, and he stressed that both had several fruits and vegetables.
The problem I have with this press conference is that it was essentially just a “look at me” by a Congressman no one (except those in his district) has probably ever heard of. It didn’t say anything, and here’s why:
1) It’s perfectly possible to feed someone well and still mistreat them. If I make sure my kids get three square meals per day, I can’t hold that up as proof that I don’t beat them. All it proves is that being forced to eat gruel isn’t among the torture methods being employed.
2) Just because this is what is served to the typical prisoner doesn’t mean this is what is served to ALL prisoners there, and it doesn’t take universal torture to make for abuse, all it takes is poor treatment or torture of one or two individuals. The Congressman never said that this is what they’re ALL eating.
3) To the best of my recollection, none of the allegations of mistreatment (at Guantanamo and other locations) have centered around food. I don’t recall having heard one example of mistreatment allegation that mentioned that they were being poorly fed, and if I were trying to get information out of someone, I don’t think I’d want them so weak that other torture methods risked killing them and losing their information entirely.
4) Finally, the worst of the abuses (in terms of it’s erosion of our country’s fundamental principles) can’t be denied: We continue to hold prisoners for years without bringing specific charges nor trying them. We hold them as political prisoners without giving them the benefits that according to our founding document are owed to every man. We’re hypocrites, and we can’t expect anyone to respect us if we don’t even respect our own beliefs.
In fact, this Congressman didn’t even have any footage of this food being served to prisoners, we have only his word that the food he presented was in any way representative of what is given to them.
Copyright © June 14, 2005 by Liam Johnson. http://www.liamjohnson.net
posted by Liam at 6/14/2005 08:14:00 AM
3 Comments:
Ask John McCain what the North Vietnamese fed him.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 10:25:00 AM
You miss my point. There are a lot of ways to torture people. One older method involved bamboo shoots under fingernails. Proving that *THAT* technique was not used does not prove that no torture has gone on.
Plus, I still maintain we have only this Congressman's word that the plates he held up were at all similar to what's actually being served to the prisoners, and we have several reports (including a declassified FBI memo) of prisoners in interogation rooms left chained in a fetal position on the floor for hours at a time, sometimes more than a day, without food nor furniture nor even the chance to use the facilities. Prisoners who were left to urinate and defacate on themselves.
If, once or twice per week, such a prisoner is given a plate like the one the Congressman held up and allowed to eat it, then nothing that he said was technically untrue, while at the same time the prisoner is definitely being abused.
It was a chance for an unknown Congressman to get a little face time on National TV. Nothing more.
Liam.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 10:57:00 AM
Yeah, I know, I post a lot of Huffington Post links here. It's because several of the professional writers there write opinions close to mine, and do it much more lucidly than I can.
Here is another one, someone else's take on the Congressman's little menu display.
Liam.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 8:29:00 AM
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